Published: September 4, 2013 at 11:21 am

Is Howard Hughes Corp (NYSE:HHC) a company investors should be bullish on?

To the average investor, there are plenty of methods shareholders can use to watch publicly traded companies. A duo of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can trounce the market by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Equally as useful, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the marketplace. There are a variety of incentives for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if investors know what to do (learn more here).

Hedge fund activity in Howard Hughes Corp (NYSE:HHC)

At Q2′s end, a total of 24 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 20% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management had the most valuable position in Howard Hughes Corp (NYSE:HHC), worth close to $617.8 million, accounting for 9% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Bill Ackman of Pershing Square, with a $399.9 million position; 3.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedge funds with similar optimism include Natixis Global Asset Management’s Harris Associates, James H. Litinsky’sJHL Capital Group and Amy Minella’s Cardinal Capital.

As one would understandably expect, certain bigger names have been driving this bullishness. Horizon Asset Management, managed by Murray Stahl, created the most outsized position in Howard Hughes Corp (NYSE:HHC). Horizon Asset Management had 617.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square also initiated a $399.9 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are James H. Litinsky’sJHL Capital Group, Amy Minella’s Cardinal Capital, and John Paulson’s Paulson & Co.

Insider trading activity in Howard Hughes Corp (NYSE:HHC)

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time frame, Howard Hughes Corp (NYSE:HHC) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Using the results explained by the previously mentioned analyses, average investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Howard Hughes Corp (NYSE:HHC) is an important part of this process.

Larry Robbins' Glenview Capital Opportunity Fund returned 101.7% in 2013 and Robbins personally made $750 million. The same fund returned 25.3% in 2014. In this FREE REPORT we will share Robbins' top dividend idea that yields 3.5% and has been increasing its dividends for 39 consecutive years. Robbins thinks the stock has the potential to appreciate 70%.

This is a FREE report from Insider Monkey. Credit Card is NOT required.